


Take Back This City Tonight

by hishn_greywalker



Series: designate this au [2]
Category: Dark Angel
Genre: 10k+, Alternate Universe, Community: apocalypsebang, Episode 2.01: Designate This, F/M, Mates, Sequel
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2013-03-03
Updated: 2013-03-03
Packaged: 2017-12-04 06:55:31
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 9,892
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/707842
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/hishn_greywalker/pseuds/hishn_greywalker
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>sequel to <a href="http://rememberbefore.livejournal.com/65183.html">A thousand Julys</a>. au from designate this on. Now that the world knows about transgenics, Max and Alec have to figure out how to keep their heads down enough to survive, and find the rest of their kind at the same time.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Take Back This City Tonight

**Author's Note:**

> for [](http://apocalypsebang.livejournal.com/profile)[**apocalypsebang**](http://apocalypsebang.livejournal.com/). Thanks to [](http://unavoidedcrisis.livejournal.com/profile)[**unavoidedcrisis**](http://unavoidedcrisis.livejournal.com/) for being the most amazing mod, [](http://www.livejournal.com/userinfo.bml?user=trulyesoteric)[****](http://www.livejournal.com/userinfo.bml?user=trulyesoteric)and[](http://gigglingkat.livejournal.com/profile)[ **gigglingkat**](http://gigglingkat.livejournal.com/) for the DA talk (basically, I need to rewatch again) and to [](http://waterofthemoon.livejournal.com/profile)[](http://waterofthemoon.livejournal.com/)**waterofthemoon** for the beta.  <333 this only took 4 years to finish. Thanks to all the people who stuck with me through it.  
>  **Art post:** [here](http://tsuminoaru.livejournal.com/29526.html) by [](http://tsuminoaru.livejournal.com/profile)[](http://tsuminoaru.livejournal.com/)**tsuminoaru** and also linked in fic.

_you got no time for the messenger_  
_got no regard for the thing that you don't understand_  
_you got no fear of the underdog_  
_that's why you will not survive_

When they figured out that there were transgenics congregating in the fenced off area of the city known as Terminal City, Max and Alec decided to look into what was happening. There weren't all that many there, they found, and most of them were transhumans. There were even a few humans living side by side with them there, most of them so out of their mind or constantly inebriated that they barely noticed that their neighbors looked a little different.

There were some Xs hanging around, though they mostly kept to themselves on the other side of the closed sector. At first, Max and Alec just observed from the buildings surrounding the biohazard zone. There were plenty of vantage points with cover that had been abandoned by humans for years.

After assessing the threat level, they decided to head in and see who—or what—was there. They hadn't gotten very far into the sector when the hair on the back of Alec's neck went up.

He hadn't felt particularly secure in the city since he and Max had escaped there, but he hadn't felt like this—like someone was watching him with intent. This was the feeling he got when another transgenic was nearby, assessing him. He hadn't felt it since they left Manticore for the last time.

He shoved Max to the side and put their backs to a wall, making sure he was in front of her. He could feel her tense, ready to vault up and over him if she needed to, ready to take on anything that looked like it would be more of a threat than was originally assessed. There was a moment of stillness before four figures slid out of the shadows, and then transhumans were coming towards them, a variety of guns raised. When Alec dropped into the familiar fighting stance of an X5, they lowered the weapons.

"Well I guess that answers that, boys. They're X5," a lizard-like one who was holding a shotgun told the others.

One that had a bit too much rodent in him, the handgun tucked into his pants, grinned at them, oversized front teeth and all. "Welcome to Terminal City."

Max relaxed and slid forward a step, coming to stop right behind his shoulder. "Welcome to Seattle." Alec could hear the smile in her voice. When the transhuman with large, black eyes and oversized ears cocked his head to the side, she explained. "I'm Max, X5-452. I've been here for almost five years."

They looked a bit impressed at that, if only grudingly. Max wondered if all the X series would be as well, or if they would blame her for their suffering when her unit had originally escaped. Alex had explained what had happened in the years between her escape and her return, and something inside of Max had cried out at the idea of so many others paying for something she did. She didn't know if letting them free would make up for what had happened.

"She's also responsible for you not burning to a crisp when Manticore ordered the lock and cauterization," Alec told them, sliding his arm around her waist and pulling her against his side. His voice brooked no argument and implied a threat to anyone who dared to mess with Max. "I'm Alec, X5-494."

The message was received loud and clear and with a bit more respect than Max was expecting. All four nodded to him and straightened up. Max hadn't thought that most of the transhumans had received the same military training as the Xs, but it seemed like some had carried over.

"What kind of organization do you have here?" Alec asked.

The lizard guy shrugged. "I'm Mole," he told them. "And not much organization is going on. You find it, you get first dibs, then you share with everyone else. There's not much to go around, though. We've bargained with some of the Xs down on Oak to get things from the outside."

Alec frowned at that. "You're not all working together?"

They all shrugged, looking away, and Alec glanced over at Max. She nodded back. "That's not acceptable," he told them. "We're all out here and in this together. There should be more happening here, one unit working to make sure everyone has everything they need."

Max looked the four up and down. The only thing that was in good repair was their weapons. Their boots were all being held together with duct tape and a prayer, and their clothes were obviously patched and re-patched. "I know where one of the thrift stores in town keeps their back stock. We should hit it up and bring it here so everyone can be well clothed. And I assume food is a bit of an issue?"

They shrugged. "We've gathered some, but we don't have a whole lot."

Max nodded and cocked her head at Alec. "Remember those C-Rations we heard about?" They'd overheard more than enough from a pair of chatty drunks the week before to plan a decent heist with limited recon. They'd caught themselves planning it, just a little, there at the bar.

Alec grinned at her. "The job sounded fun then. We should do it."

The transhumans looked a bit surprised. "You guys need help?" the one with the other shotgun asked.

Alec shrugged. "We can always use support and help in the planning stages, but we work best alone on the inside."

This didn't seem to shock them, and Alec figured they were pretty used to dealing with mated pairs at this point. In Manticore, they'd all suppressed their need to work exclusively with their mates, but on the outside, Alec was sure that any and all mated pairs would have begun to follow their instincts on this.

Max looked around them, glancing up at the buildings that hemmed them in and then back over her shoulder. The hole in the fence that they'd come through wasn't visible. "You guys let us get pretty far in here."

The big-eared transhuman shrugged. "We don't like to get too close to the fence. But we knew you were there."

She nodded, obviously happy with at least part of the response. "Do the Xs help with sentry duty?"

The others shrugged again. "Sorta," Mole told them. "They cover their part, and we do ours."

Alec frowned at that. "We have to get a central command up and running and the sentry roster figured out. This whole place needs to be secure if there's gonna be any number of us here."

Mole raised an eyebrow, clearly unsure about what Alec was suggesting. "How many of you are there to bring?"

Alec grinned at him, wild but reassuring. "With the right embedded code, most of the last facility could be here."

Mole cocked his head to the side, then nodded. "During the evac. The code over the speakers."

"Bingo," Alec said.

"Well, then," Mole said, slinging his shotgun onto his shoulder. "We best be looking for a command center."

 

Once there was an established command, tighter security, and what could pass for unity between all the transgenics, Max and Alec brought Joshua to TC. It had taken close to two weeks of Max and Alec spending every spare minute they had getting supplies together and working with the transgenics. In some cases, they mediated between factions; in others, they found themselves forcing the others to bend to their will.

Max had been somewhat surprised when she and Alec had demanded something and, after a moment of silence, the others they had been arguing with had nodded and scurried away, clearly unhappy with what they were doing.

Alec had looked satisfied by the reaction. Max hadn't asked then, but later, Alec had explained to Max. "It's in our genetics to respond to the strongest Alpha. And right now, I'm the strongest Alpha."

Max was clearly unsure what to do with the knowledge, but she used it to her advantage. Alec watched, a few later, as she frowned when someone tried to ignore her and called them on it, demanding they listen to her. Her suggestion had been valid, and Alec knew the other transgenic knew it, too. It didn't make the transgenic look any happier to be given an order.

When they finally felt it was safe enough to bring Joshua into TC, Mole greeted them two blocks into the sector, shotgun resting on his shoulder and a cigar in his mouth. "Jesus, you guys weren't joking when you said you'd stashed a transhuman away."

Max glared at Mole a little, but Alec grinned, and Joshua barked a laugh. "Hidden from ordinaries, stay safe," he told Mole.

Mole nodded to him. "Exactly. Welcome to TC, dogface."

Joshua cocked his head to the side. "Glad to be here, lizardface."

The two X5s watched the transhuman byplay with open curiosity. Mole snorted at their look. "Don't look so surprised, you two. It's not different than the way you X5s beat the shit out of each other then become best friends."

Alec shrugged, not understanding but not questioning it. Max frowned, but nodded, and the two of them let it be. It wasn't the most unusual of things. The whole group of them, Xs and transhumans alike, were trying to figure out how to function in a world without Manticore breathing over their shoulder. Before now, they had all had a very structured, pre-designed, way of life. Now they were loose and free to do what they wanted, when they wanted, and how they wanted.

With that freedom came the ability to listen to their instincts for the first time. Now it wasn't just a shadowy concept tickling the back of their minds, but an actual piece of themselves that they were able to explore, utilize, and listen to.

It took a month or so for everyone's instincts and emotions to settle into something semi-stable. It wasn't because they hadn't known what their instincts were saying before. It was that now they had to seamlessly incorporate them into their everyday life. And for some, they had to get used to acknowledging them at all.

Max explained how she had lived before to Alec, talking about how she had made sure that she didn't stand out from normal humans at all if she could help it. "I mean, I fought, and I used my abilities when I had to, but I didn't have anyone else like me around. My instincts didn't work with humans—they didn't tell me how to react the way I needed to. So I kinda…"

Alec watched her as she struggled before he reached out and ran a hand down her back, soothing her. "You ignored them to the point that you didn't even notice them anymore."

"Exactly," she told him, sighing and relaxing against him.

Alec held her close, leaning down and burying his face in her hair. "You're listening to them now, Max, and that's all that really matters."

She shrugged, making sure it didn't dislodge him.

They were finding others who, in the time that they had been in Manticore, had suppressed their instincts in a way that made it hard for them to get used to the outside. Max gained a bit of confidence when she realized that she wasn't alone, that she wasn't the only one like that.

Something else that was changing was their social structure. Because they were no longer made to stay in their designated units, they were forming Packs. Most of these Packs were made up of former units, but not all of them, and many of them were including something that was completely new concept to be able to acknowledge: mates.

Mates in and of themselves had existed in Manticore. But they had never been able to do anything about it, once the attachment had happened. They had claimed each other, sure. It usually happened in an intense situation where they had to rely on their instincts more than they normally would, completely without either of the transgenics trying. But after, when they returned to Manticore and their units, no one had been sure what to do with the new feelings and instincts.

Now, they could explore it. Mates didn't ever seem to be far away from each other, and almost without fail, the female would join her mate's Pack if she wasn't already a part of it. They seemed to be extremely protective of each other, which Alec could attest to. He hadn't seen too much of it in Manticore, but now that they were out, he saw it all the time. He and Max were even more guilty of it than most.

Any transgenic who hadn't suppressed their instincts didn't have any trouble identifying mated pairs, despite the newness of the whole thing. It wasn't so much a scent thing, or something they learned, but more it was just something they knew. It was a bit how the mated pairs smelled like each other; the way that they were always near each other, rotating around each other, but never too far; and also a bit the way they touched when they were close enough to do so, just glancing touches that let the other one know they were behind them, beside them, in their space.

Max had told Alec that she didn't think that before her time with Psy-Ops that she would have known who was mated and who was not, nor how to act with other mated transgenics. But she did now, so Alec knew that the second that Met, an unmated X5 who'd recently wandered into TC, touched her on the shoulder, she knew it was wrong.

Everything in him froze up at the sight of another male touching his mate, even if it was just on the shoulder. All the transgenics in the room were suddenly eyeing Met, then Alec, and all of them could probably feel the fear coming off Max at having someone besides her mate touching her. The whole room was still, everyone waiting to see how this would play out.

"Met," Alec growled, low and deadly, his body coiled at the threat. "Take your hands off my mate."

Alec hadn't had to use that tone since he and Max had escaped Manticore. Out here, no one had fought him for his position as the alpha. Sometimes he had to demand things from others, but he had never had to use this particular tone to get the others to do what he wanted. Their instincts told them to do what he demanded.

Met reacted like any transgenic would at the sound of an alpha growling out a command. His spine straightened, his head bent, and his eyes hit the floor. He didn't, however, take his hand off of Max.

Max didn't have any trouble dealing with that, though. Before Alec could say or do anything, she spun and punched Met in the jaw. She didn't stick around to see his reaction, but instead plastered herself to Alec's side, her face tucked against his chest. He hugged her close, then backed up a step.

"Stay here," he told her, leaving her by one of the desks in command. Max didn't seem to like the idea of him leaving her there, but she didn't say anything, just watched him closely as he stalked back towards Met.

Before Alec had taken two steps away, five members of their Pack had surrounded Max. Mole stood just to her right, shotgun in hand, and Biggs stood at her back with his hand resting lightly on his handgun. Cece had a hand on Max's arm, touching her reassuringly, and Joshua was beside Cece, nearly growling. Brix, an X7 their Pack had adopted, stood in front of her, her wide eyes narrowed at Met.

Met's Pack had stood up, their hackles raised by someone challenging one of their Pack, but Alec could tell they knew he was in the wrong. They weren't surrounding him the way Alec's Pack was surrounding Max, and they weren't even trying to make eye contact with Alec.

His judgment would be law here, to his Pack and Met's, and then, in turn, to all the rest.

"You know better," Alec nearly snarled.

Met shrank back unintentionally as Alec got up in his face, and Alec's instincts were driving him to go in for the kill, to knock Met to the ground and go for his throat. Instead, Alec reined his instincts in, towering over the other transgenic despite their similar statures, and snarled. "You know better, and your Pack knows better, and every instinct in you had to be telling you not to do that. So I'm going to give you a chance to try and explain to me why you would even consider touching my mate before I kick your ass."

Met didn't say anything. He didn't exactly shut down, but everyone could see there was no way he was going to respond at all. Not that anyone could think of any reason they'd want to give Alec for touching Max.

"I fought off Renfro and her guards for Max," Alec told Met, his voice tight with anger. "Don't think I won't kill anyone who tries to touch her."

The warning was clear. It wasn't just to Met, either. In fact, at this point, it wasn't really to Met at all. There was no way Met was ever going to touch Max again, if he even went into the same room as her again. No, this warning was for everyone else in the room and anyone they talked to. Alec, X5-494, the Alpha of Terminal City, was staking his claim on Max to everyone in the room, and there was no doubt in anyone's mind that he meant every word of what he said.

The room was silent for a long time. Alec eventually took a final look around and then turned away from the cowed Met. Met all but scrambled back towards his Pack. If he'd had a tail, there was no doubt it would have been tucked up against his stomach. As it was, he slouched and crept behind two of his Packmates, both of whom stepped a little to the side, as if whatever had made Met touch Max was catching.

Alec returned to Max. Brix stepped to the side, and Cece let her hand drop, but their Pack didn't move away. Instead, more of them came up to them, surrounding them. Max didn't watch them, though; instead, she only had eyes for Alec.

The old Max, the one before her return to Manticore, might have hated Alec for his display of dominance. But she wasn't the old Max. She had been through Manticore, and she had felt the truth in everything Alec had said, had felt that it was right.

Alec reached out and pulled her to him, his hands settling on her hips. She didn't resist in the least, instead reaching up and wrapping her arms around his neck. He leaned down and kissed her then, and it was like nothing they'd experienced before. He'd claimed her before, in Manticore, and then again once they were in Seattle.

But this was different. This wasn't a claim between the two of them, but his claim over her, in front of their Pack and other Packs in TC. This was an uncontested claim of the alpha male of TC on the female he chose as his mate.

When Alec pulled back from the kiss, Max whimpered. She didn't mean to, especially in a room full of people, including those who weren't a part of her Pack, but she couldn't help it.

"Come on," he told her gruffly, nodding to Mole and Biggs, who nodded back. He pulled her out of the group, though he knew without a doubt that some of their Pack would follow them for now, watching their backs.

Alec led her out of their command center and over to the set of apartments that many in TC had turned into their homes. He and Max were no different, despite having their place with OC outside of TC as well. When he led her into their rooms, he turned around and saw that two of their unit, Sally and TJ, had stopped at the end of the hall. He nodded to them, and they nodded back. Sally even smiled at him, which made something else in Alec flare up. Pride in not just him and Max for escaping and helping build this, but in every transgenic who had escaped to become what they were now, instead of what they were before.

He didn't think about it too hard then, though. Instead, he shut the door and turned around to face Max, who stood in the middle of the living room, waiting for him. He smiled at her, and she sighed in response. Before she could even blink, his hands were on her again, pulling her close to him.

He kissed her again, and she responded. His hands went up from her hips, under her shirt, before he pulled it up and over her head. She didn't fight him on it, and as soon as it was out of the way, she was back to kissing him.

They stripped each other then, their hands roving over each other as they kissed. Alec walked her back towards their bedroom, giving in and lifting her up into his arms when she nearly tripped.

He couldn't help but grin into their kiss when that happened. The idea of an X5 tripping over anything was almost laughable, and the fact that he'd distracted her enough to cause it made something in him very happy.

He nearly tackled her to the bed. He pulled away enough to lean down and nuzzle under her neck, nipping at her throat. "Mine," he growled at her.

She sighed, her head arching back even more. "Yours."

Alec smiled and bit down softly on the side of her neck. The marks would probably be gone by the next morning, but she would know it had been there, and so would he.

 

They ventured back out of their apartment later that afternoon. Mole raised an eyebrow when they wandered into command, but he didn't say anything. Dix, a transhuman who had been invaluable to them since setting up command, ran down a few things with them, but none of it was really important. Just details, and even if Alec didn't really need all the details, he let people tell them to him.

Sometimes the details came in handy, what with patterns emerging and such, but most of the time it was more for the sake of the person telling them the details. Transgenics weren't used to feeling useless. Whatever Manticore had tasked them with had usually been something that needed to be done, and every bit of their jobs had to be documented in detail. Alec figured that eventually, their need to tell him every detail would fade, but until then, he was more than willing to listen to them.

Max stuck by his side until Brix and Cece came in. She glanced over at him but didn't wait for him to tell her to go. He was glad to see that she wasn't unsure after the events of the afternoon.

The three females drifted over to a corner, where they settled down around a table. Cece produced some maps, and the three of them began to quietly talk over them. They were marking on them, but even though Alec couldn't hear what they were saying, it didn't look like they were talking about the maps.

Sally joined them a few minutes later, and then a cat-like transhuman named Felicia who had come to their Pack with her mate, a vaguely canine-like transhuman named Trey, who was working on a computer across the room. Mole was working with Pan, another of their X5 Packmates, and Joshua and an X5 from Alec's old unit, Cory, were deep in conversation about something. Biggs was just to his side, working over the schematics of a building on their heists list.

Three more of their Packmates, Kara, Ren, and Dover were in the room, working with various electronics. There were only three members in their unit that weren't in the room at the moment. Tyke and Gina were on guard duty at the gate, and Doc was down in the medbay, where she liked to stay. The X5 had been the medic in his unit back in Manticore, but she had hated field work. She always loved when she was allowed to work in clean, sterile rooms, and when Alec had given her control of their medics and labs, she had rejoiced.

Alec leaned back in his chair, watching as his Pack worked with the rest of the people in command. No other Pack had so many people here, ever. Only his spent most of their time in command. Dix had two Packmates who spent a bit of time in there as well, Luke, another transhuman with a bit of rat in him, and Moxie, an X7 from Brix's old unit.

Still, it was nice to see that his Pack was pulling together like this.

Biggs brought him back to the present with an inquiry about the heist they were looking to pull. Alec could have answered without thinking, but he chose to set aside his train of thought and give this heist his full attention. With one last glance around, he leaned forward again and started in on their plans.

 

Alec and Max kept up their jobs at JamPony because it gave them access to whichever sector they needed, thanks to their sector passes. As time wore on, they got various other X5s jobs there, as well as a few X6s. The X7s wanted to help, but while they would have been good at it, even Normal drew the line at hiring kids who barely looked 14.

Brix took exception to that and took to following Max and Alec to work. Normal grumbled about it, but she looked a lot like Max, and Max told Normal to stuff it, that sometimes her little sister was gonna come along, much to the delight of the X7.

Normal didn't actually ever deny Max anything she wanted. Alec found it interesting that for all that they claimed to hate each other, Max didn't let anything happen to JamPony or its people, including Normal, and Normal never actually made good on his half-meant threats to fire Max.

Alec had been a bit alarmed by Normal's talk at first, wanting to protect Max from it, but OC had told him to watch before he acted, and he'd seen the relief that Max was alive under all Normal's complaining about her skipping out on them. A few days after her return, he'd seen Normal pull her to the side and ask her if she was really okay to be riding so far after her surgery.

She'd assured him she was, but she'd smiled at him then, and Alec had had to smirk at the sight of Normal blushing.

So they worked their nights with TC and their days with JamPony, and they kept their eyes peeled for anyone from Manticore trying to get into the city in response to their coded message that had been sent out every day for a week. To humans, it mostly looked like a bunch of numbers and letters running across the bottom of a TV screen. To anyone from Manticore, it was what they had been waiting for.

The rest of his old unit made it in safely, but he didn't add any of them to his Pack. None of them even seemed to think they were going to be—most of them were already in a Pack of their own. He had never truly been one of his last unit, as they had been formed not too long before Manticore fell.

It was something that they had just lived with in Manticore, being split up from the people that they trusted, and then once they finally trusted their new units, being split up again. Now, though, they didn't have to live with it. Most Packs all lived near each other—the only people on the floor Alec and Max lived on were their Pack. Mates mostly lived together, but the rest of the Pack usually crashed in whichever apartment they were in at the time, those that were single rotating through the rest of the rooms out of convenience. They were slowly settling on where they wanted to stay, but Alec figured that they wouldn't completely settle down until they mated and felt the need for a defensible place that was just for them.

Max had told Alec about Ames White. They figured he had been the one to put the unheeded signal in the night sky about a rendezvous point, but they had never checked it out. Alec had let people know that there was someone out there, someone who was an actual threat to an X5, but had kept the details to himself.

Their first run-in with White did not bode well for anyone. They were on a ship that had a load of weapons destined for the black market. The transgenics had decided to get to the shipment first, not only to get the weapons for themselves but to keep them out of their enemies' hands as well.

They were mostly done, the weapons all moved off ship. They had cleared the boat of any guards in the beginning and now were setting about with lighting a fire in the hold. Max didn't know what they put on their customs forms, but whatever it was, they could claim it on insurance and get some of the money back.

Alec and Max had just lit the fire and were sending the rest of their Pack off the boat when they were attacked.

The fight was a rough one. The person they were fighting knew how to fight and didn't seem deterred by any damage they did to them.

Max groaned when she managed to pin their enemy down for a second. "It's a familiar."

Alec growled at that, and Max knew that the familiar wouldn't leave the boat alive. They'd talked about it, back when she'd first explained White and his goons to Alec. Alec had told her that they'd have to take a strong stance against them, show them they were more than capable of defending themselves and that they weren't going to let their enemies walk around in plain sight.

In theory, Max agreed with Alec. It was hard for her to actually dole it out, though.

Alec didn't make her do anything more than stand guard. He took care of the familiar and left the body in the fire. They didn't have any real hopes that the body wouldn't be identified, but they did hope that the cause of death would be considered to be the fire.

When they all made it back to TC, Alec pulled Max to the side. "We knew we wouldn't be left alone forever. We have to figure out what do to do about the familiars."

Max agreed, but she didn't really know what to do. She'd managed to get by before by just avoiding confrontation with them. Now, that wasn't an option. Especially if the familiars were going to be getting in the middle of their runs.

She and Alec talked it over a bit that night, and the next day, when everyone had returned to TC for the day, they called a meeting of anyone who wasn't on duty.

"We have a slight problem," Alec told everyone once they had gathered in the underground parking structure. "The familiars have decided to start getting in our way. Max and I took care of the one on our last run, but I'm sure we'll have to deal with more on the next."

There was a bit of grumbling then. The idea of anyone getting in the way of one of their runs didn't sit well with the transgenics. It took Max and Alec a long time to explain the familiars to the rest of TC. They answered every question that got thrown at them, but nothing they said could make up for the fact that these creatures could take on a transgenic. Because for all that the transgenics were probably superior fighters with better training, they could still feel pain and fear.

As far as they could tell, the familiars couldn't. There was no good end to the conversation they had that day.

 

Alec and Max had mostly fallen into the position of CO, no one even trying to fight a pair of alphas like them for the position. He wasn't even sure anyone else wanted it, regardless of anyone's status. He and Max had their Pack, a mixture of his old unit mates and a few transhumans including Joshua and Mole, but they led the rest of the Packs as well.

Despite the fact that no one else wanted to take command, their instincts didn't let the others all just fall into line without proof that Alec and Max were the best ones for the job. Without fail, anyone who was even close in status to Alec ended up in a friendly fight with him.

Max hadn't liked the idea of it when it first started. She didn't say anything, but Alec could see how uncomfortable the idea made her. It didn't stop her from coming and watching the first time Alec and the alpha of a different Pack took to the sparring ring they had made deep in the middle of Terminal City.

He knew her response to the fighting surprised her, but he'd known about how she would react. There was nothing like seeing your mate prove they were the best.

After the first fight, she stayed to the side, waiting until he came to her. She watched him approach her, her eyes dark, and when he reached out and pulled her to him, she let him. He leaned down and kissed her there, and Alec knew without a doubt if he'd wanted to, he could have taken her then and there, and she wouldn't have put up a fight.

Instead, though, he pulled away, his eyes dilated in response to her and the fight. "Home," he growled out, and she didn't deny him. He barely let her in the door before he had her pinned to the wall and a hand up her shirt. He mouthed at the side of her neck, wishing with all his being that if he bit her, the mark would still be there the next day.

Later, as she fell over the edge and he followed behind her, he did bite her. And, like he knew it would be, the mark on the back of her neck was gone by the time they left for JamPony the next morning.

 

Things had marginally settled down when Alec ran afoul with a gang in the International District. He was delivering his fourth package to the same location that week when he was pulled up by a group of people known as Steelheads. They were a group that were seemingly obsessed with cybernetic adaptations to the human form, all of them sporting one or two themselves.

Alec eventually got out of them that the packages he had been delivering were filled with drugs and that they considered his bringing the drugs into their territory enough to be considered a fellow dealer.

Alec was in the middle of trying to explain, as calmly as a X5 with his back against a wall and four people he considered an enemy in front of him could, that he wasn't dealing and wanted no part in it. He was trying to explain to them that he really was going to return to Jam Pony with this news and tell his boss to blacklist the sender and the receiver when he felt Max nearby.

His calm all but evaporated when he felt her fear coming from wherever she was hiding. "Look," he growled out, "I'm not dealing, I don't want to be dealing, and I really don't have any more time to deal with this. So just back the fuck off, okay?"

They didn't seem inclined to do so, but a quick shove that knocked the two who could potentially pose a threat into each other allowed him to slip past the other two and move towards where he could feel Max.

He found her pinned to a wall by what appeared to be another Steelhead. She wasn't fighting back, though. Something was very wrong, and it only made Alec even more nervous.

He threw himself at the Steelhead, knocking him away, and planted himself in front of Max, every bit of him growling, angry alpha transgenic. The man in front of him didn't respond like Alec expected, though, and instead of reacting like a human, he snarled back like another alpha transgenic would.

Max was crying silently behind him, which only added to the confusion, but then Alec's thoughts were gone, and he and the other alpha were tumbling down into the alley. All of the fights Alec had fought at TC had been vaguely friendly, even if the intent behind them was to test him. None of the others had actually wanted to beat him, but their instincts told them they had to try.

This fight, though, this one was for real. And something in him told him that Max crying was just as big of a motivator for the other transgenic as it was for him. The two of them bounced down and then back towards Max, neither holding the obvious upper hand. The other transgenic had some upgrades—at least one arm was cybernetic, but it wasn't giving him the upper hand.

Alec's training was helping him, though. It took awhile, but he was wearing down the other transgenic. Eventually, he got the other pinned and locked down. It was only once he'd done that that Max moved forward.

She paused behind Alec and took a deep breath. "He's my brother."

Alec started at that but didn't let up on the other transgenic. "He doesn't know you."

Max hiccupped, and Alec tensed. She seemed more upset about seeing her brother than he could figure. "He… he shot himself in the head, killed himself. So that I could have his heart. I was shot through the heart when we blew up the DNA lab. I got it. His heart." She paused and took a deep breath. "He should be dead, Alec."

Alec had tensed with every word she said. He expected no less from Manticore, but this level of fuckery was something else, even for them. "Name and designation?" he asked.

"Zack, X-599," Max said softly.

The transgenic under him started at that. "Don't tell him anything, Max. He's one of them," Zack snarled at her. It was the first thing he'd said in the entire fight.

"No, Zack, he's not. He's one of us. Me and him—" She paused, reaching out and touching Alec's shoulder before she continued. "We're in charge of all of the transgenics out in the world, Zack. We're the alphas."

Zack was struggling in Alec's grip, but Alec wasn't letting him go. "I don't…" He tried one last push before he went limp in Alec's arms. "I don't remember," he admitted, and both Max and Alec reacted to the terror that laced his voice. "I know you're Max, and I remember a few things, but all I know is that we can't trust anyone, Max. Just us," he told her softly. "Who's us, Max?"

Max sighed and slid down to sit in front of the two males. "Before… before us was our unit, Zack. You were our leader. You got us out when they took us apart for the shakes. I had them, Tinga had them. So we escaped. And they killed Eva," she told him. She reached out and ran her hand through the hair on his forehead, and Alec could feel the sigh Zack let out at the action.

"Now, though… Zack, now, us, it's everyone. All the transgenics. We're living together in TC, Zack, and we're doing good. We can trust them all, okay?"

Alec knew she didn't actually trust them all, just like he didn't. But he trusted them as a group, and he trusted them enough to be out in the city while so many of them were all still back in TC. They trusted Alec and Max enough to know that they'd do their best by the whole, even if they didn't like certain individuals.

"Our unit…" Zack trailed off. It wasn't a question, but Alec knew well enough to know what he wanted.

"None of them have showed up," Alec told him carefully. "But I think it might be because you gave them recall codes that I don't have. If we can jog your memory, they might show up."

Zack nodded, like he knew what Alec was talking about, and Alec figured on some level he did. He'd been playing alpha for a long time. Now, with them calmed down and settled against each other, Alec could feel how not an alpha Zack was. He was a caretaker and a unit leader, but he looked for comfort and direction in ways that neither Alec or Max ever would. Alec wondered if before he'd lost his memory if Alec would have been able to tell that Zack wasn't really an alpha, or if the years of playing one would have hidden it.

Alec rose off of Zack then, sliding over to sit next to Max. "We should probably relocate. You want to get Zack back to TC, and I'll swing through Jam Pony to enlighten Normal as to the gang war his client got us in the middle of?"

Max sighed and shook her head. "Actually, you should probably take Zack, and I'll handle Normal. I… I don't think that I could handle Zack if something sets him off."

Alec nodded, and Zack winced from where he lay, rolled over onto his back. The three of them were disgusting, their clothing covered in muck from the alley ground and walls. Alec had knocked into a trash can, and then Zack had followed him through the muck. Both of them were bruised and bleeding from their fight, too.

Max looked the best of them all because she didn't have the bruises and abrasions the other two had, but she was covered from the alley ground, and blood had transferred from them to her. She looked like there had been a gang war. Normal would believe her.

The transgenics back in TC, however, would know immediately that Alec and Zack had fought, and the fact that Max would come back to him and Zack would follow him in would assure them of the outcome.

Alec and Zack followed Max back through three check points before she veered off to Jam Pony and they continued on to the next sector. Before they got to TC, Alec slowed and pulled Zack to the side.

"So, things have changed. Since you left, and since you lost your memory," Alec warned him. "Listen to your instincts. If they tell you to freeze, freeze. If they tell you to growl, growl. It's okay, and everyone will understand, but suppressing them can get you into trouble."

Zack nodded, his eyes sliding up to Alec's, then down. Alec grinned. "Exactly. I'm Alpha here. So, me bringing you in won't be an issue. But when Max gets back, I need you to remember that she's mine, even if it feels like she's part of your pack. She's not. Okay?" Alec asked. "You have to be careful with the touching."

Zack nodded, though he seemed a little confused. Alec knew the main point had been picked up, though.

The gate watch stared openly at Zack. He lifted a lip in silent reproach at them, and all of them but Trey, who was in Alec's pack, responded by glancing away. Alec watched closely, figuring out where everyone else felt Zack belonged. Trey wasn't too highly ranked in his pack, but he clearly didn't feel like he should submit to Zack. None of the others at the gate were too highly ranked in their own packs, either.

As they made their way into TC, more and more transgenics noticed Alec. Someone of them actually greeted them, but the rest of them just stood silently and watched.

This was the first real, true test to Alec being an alpha. This was the first time someone from outside of TC had challenged Alec, and him winning seemed to settle something in those who came out and watched them walk towards command.

When they got there, all of Alec's pack that wasn't on duty was there. Alec was impressed by the speed at which word had spread. To a one, even little Bree, all of them stared Zack down. Behind Zack, Alec smirked at them. They didn't smirk back, but Alec could tell a few of them wanted to.

A good number of the others around command didn't back down either, but by the time Alec stepped forward to introduce him, he had a pretty decent idea of where he stood in pack hierarchy.

"Guys, this is Zack, X-599," Alec told them. "Max's brother."

It was clear that none of them were one hundred percent sure how to take that. "Her brother?" Mole asked, finally, unlit cigar in his mouth as usual.

Alec shrugged. "It's how they've identified since before '09," he told the room at large. It seemed to settle them, their confusion evaporating.

"That explains a lot," Keta, the alpha of one of the packs, who was lounging by a computer bay, told him.

Alec nodded. "That it does." He glanced around and noted that his pack was still a little tense. They were missing a few others, mostly people who worked at Jam Pony. "Max will be back soon, probably with an escort. She went back to work to explain to Normal that he sent us into the middle of a gang war. Which is true, but it wasn't really an issue," he told the crowd with a wry grin.

There was a few laughs at that, and the room settled. Alec walked Zack to the back where there was what at one point had to have been part of an attached gym. They'd cleared most of the space, but the showers were convenient, so they'd restored water to a few of them.

By the time Alec and Zack returned from their showers, Max had returned, Biggs and Cece flanking her. Alec had expected nothing less from their pack.

"How'd it go?" he asked Max.

She shrugged. "He couldn't deny that something had happened," she told him, motioning to herself. "I told him it was your package that had managed to get us in trouble, but that me being nearby had escalated the issue. Biggs and Cece decided to come home with me, just in case."

Alec nodded to them, and they nodded back. He glanced at Max, then sighed. "Let's get you cleaned up, then we can figure out what to do with your brother."

She smiled at him, and Alec figured the headache of finding a place for Zack would be worth it.

 

Both Zack and Max wanted to find the rest of their old unit. Neither of them said much about it to Alec—in fact, Zack didn't say much of anything to Alec at all—but he knew. And he couldn't really blame them. He'd been more than grateful to see Biggs stumble into TC, and when Cory and Doc had come in right behind him, he'd been able to breathe a little easier.

Max hadn't seen some of her siblings in years. She knew that Jace was somewhere, hopefully with her baby, alive and happy. She knew that Tinga was dead, and her son was hidden away in Canada. Ben, too, was dead. Eva had been killed in the escape. Brin had returned herself to Manticore when a flaw in her DNA had made itself known and hadn't been seen since the destruction of it. Syl and Krit had been in Seattle for the destruction of the DNA lab, but neither she nor Zack knew where they had ended up. The rest, Seth, Kavi, Vada and Zane were still where Zack had left them.

The problem with that was, of course, that Zack couldn't remember where he left them. Alec didn't know how to help with this problem. He'd only seen a complete memory wipe once, and it had never been reversed. Even the small wipe they'd done to him was still in place.

Though he hadn't worked very hard at reversing it. He knew that he had, at one point, defied Manticore to the point where they felt the only recourse was a memory wipe. They didn't wipe memories for any other reason. Everything else was left to become a teaching point, to reinforce their control over everything in the life of the transgenics. Whatever Alec had done had been so impossible to twist to something they could use that they chose to wipe it completely from his memory.

Nearly everything that had ever happened in Zack's life would be impossible to twist to their needs. Alec didn't know how long Zack had been planning the escape in '09, but Alec had a hard time believing that the nine-year-old had just woke up one day and decided to escape. It would have had to have been a gradual decision, based on more than one thing. Yes, the seizures that his unit had apparently been prone to probably had been what push him over the edge, but Alec couldn't imagine that a caretaker like Zack would have been okay with any of the experiments that all of the units had been used in.

Max had nightmares sometimes. One of the more frequent ones was more memory than anything: being thrown into a pool, tied down and unable to get to the surface, with Lydecker and the doctors watching through the churning surface.

Another was of every bone in her body being shattered, the pain and inability to move or fight back, and feeling them heal over the next few days, only to have them be broken again and again.

Alec had been through similar things. Everyone had. But none of them had watched them happen to their unit mates and felt like they were happening to their siblings. None of them had known what siblings were or how having one felt.

Sometimes, when he held Max through the aftermath of her nightmares, those or ones about Ben or ones about failing in Psy-Ops and giving all her siblings up, Alec wondered if it wasn't better for him that he'd gone until now without understanding family. That if maybe their life was easier, if they'd been able to survive Manticore better because they hadn't felt like all of their unit members were family.

 

Two weeks later, the first of Max and Zack's old unit made their way to TC. Zane was cautious in his approach, but the way he did it told Alec that he had back up near by. Tyke had been on gate duty the day he came through, and had sent word to Alec the second he realized who was at their gate.

Alec had showed up before Zane was even through being processed and given the rundown of TC.

"Zane," Alec greeted him, when the transhuman talking to Zane paused at the sight of him.

Zane stiffened a little. "Ben?"

Alec shook his head. "Alec, Ben's twin," he told him. He cocked his head to the side. "Ben's dead."

Zane's face fell. "How?"

"He went insane. Max dealt with it," Alec told him coolly. Better to get it out now, so that Max wouldn't have to explain later. "Please don't bring it up. I don't like it when my mate is upset."

Zane went from looking upset to looking surprised in a single moment. "Your mate?"

Alec nodded. "We're the Alphas of Terminal City."

Zane seemed a little confused, but Alec didn't blame him. TC was hard enough to navigate with your instincts intact, let alone suppressed for a number of years.

Alec cocked his head to the side, watching Zane for a moment. Then he grinned. "You should go get whoever else is with you. Then I'll take you to Max and Zack."

Zane didn't hesitate. He scrambled back out of TC and returned a short time later, two other transgenics following him.

"This is Kavi and Jondy," Zane told Alec. "And this Alec, the alpha, and Max's mate," Zane told his siblings.

Kavi had eyed him for a moment, and Alec was surprised to realize Kavi was more alpha than Zane or Zack, despite the fact that Zack had been their unit leader and Zane was clearly in charge of this small group. Alec met Kavi's stare head on, and eventually Kavi dropped his gaze.

Alec let the guys at the gate do their job. He lounged against a wall behind them, watching their reactions to other people. He knew Max would have heard that he was at the gate with new comers by that point, and he also knew she'd stay away unless he sent for her. It wasn't that he didn't want her here—but the reaction they were going to get from Max, and the one she would cause in these guys would be best left for somewhere without prying eyes.

When the three were done, Alec led them through the streets towards their command center. Alec went slowly, letting any of the curious eyes watching them look their fill. He could tell the three knew others were watching, but maybe not how many. If he'd been them, he'd have been up in arms by the sheer number of others in the area.

When they got to command, the Zane stopped in his track behind Alec. "Maxie," he breathed out.

Alec had to force himself to stay still as three mostly-strange X5s flung themselves at his mate. Every instinct he had said this was wrong, that they shouldn't be touching her, but he knew there was no way he could tell them to stop now, not when they hadn't seen her in so long.

Max detangled herself from them remarkably fast, all things considered. When she did, she stepped back to Alec's side and leaned into him. "Thank you," she told him, quietly. She wasn't whispering, because there wasn't any point in whispering, not in a room full of transgenics. But the tone of her voice let everyone else know that her words were just for him.

 

It took three more weeks for Syl and Krit to show up. That week, Eyes Only started to dig into transgenics again. Alec wasn't sure what to do about him.

"We could just take care of the problem," Biggs told Alec after watching the most recent broadcast.

Alec frowned. "No," he told Biggs, slowly, so the other X5 knew he wasn't mad for the suggestion, but firm enough for him to know he meant it. "We can't. We can't have any suspicious deaths linked to anyone talking about transgenics."

Biggs nodded shortly. "Yeah, okay. But we need to do something."

Alec sighed. Max came up behind him. "I can try and talk to him."

Alec sighed. "You might have to. I shouldn't be in there with you, but you're not going alone. Biggs and Zack, maybe?"

Max thought about it for a long minute, then nodded. "Yeah. They're good."

Alec nodded once. "Tomorrow, then. Make sure you guys have back up when you go, and let me know before you enter the sector."

Max waited a beat, then smiled shyly at Alec. Alec reached out and pulled her close to him, nuzzling her temple for a second before he released her. "Fuck, I hate sending you in without me. But it would be so much worse with me there."

Max sighed. "It really will. But I… I'll take a gun. It'll be fine."

Alec nodded, and knew she was taking her safety seriously if she was willing to take a gun with her. "Go find Zach and tell him," he told her.

 

The conversation didn't go well. Max came back furious, Zach and Biggs trailing her close enough to protect her if need be, but far enough that they were mostly out of striking distance.

"That bad?" Alec asked.

Max snorted. "Worse. I have no idea what his agenda is, but helping us isn't on it," she told him.

Alec frowned. "Well, okay. I guess we get someone on making some sort of virus to take out his equipment. It's not a permanent stop, but it will buy us time."

Max nodded. "I'm gonna go find someone who wants to spar."

Alec raised an eyebrow at Biggs as she stalked off, and Biggs nodded, headed off to find someone who would be willing to take on Max and send them to her.

Alec showed up an hour later after having given the go ahead for the techs to start their work on EyesOnly's equipment.

Max was fighting another female X5, and the fight was nearly over. Alec didn't need to have seen the whole thing to know just how short the fight had been. Max's next kick sent the other X5 flying and when Max bound forward, she didn't get up to face Max again.

There were three other X5s lounging along the wall, clearly favoring their side or a limb, and Alec knew that no one was lasting long against Max.

Max circled back to the center of the mat, eyeing the rest of the transgenics who'd showed up to watch. Alec smirked when no one else walked forward.

After a minute, Max stopped dead center and put her hands on her hips. "No one else?"

After a beat, Alec stepped forward. "I will."

Max smiled at him. It was full of heat and promised that no matter who won, it was going to be a good night.

But the time Alec stepped out on to the mat towards her, the rest of the transgenics had scrambled to clear the room. They all knew exactly how this fight was going to end.

It ended exactly like everyone had predicted, with Max pinned to the mat by the weight of Alec's body, his hips fit snuggly into hers, one of his hands pinning hers above her head, the other bracing him just enough to tease her as he kissed down her neck.

"You feeling better now?" he murmured against her throat.

"Yeah," she told him breathlessly. "But don't stop."

Alec laughed lowly. "Oh, I won't," he told her. "That's never happening."


End file.
